By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell on Friday dismissed speculation that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) is considering an early general election, asserting that the Davis administration is committed to serving its full five-year term.

Addressing questions about the possibility of a snap election as early as September, Mr Mitchell said only Prime Minister Philip Davis holds the constitutional authority to call an election, and no such move is currently under consideration.

“The election is not due until five years after the date of the first meeting of the House of Assembly after the last general election,” Mr Mitchell said. “To my knowledge, that is the 10th of October 2021, when the House met for the first time. So the time when the mandate runs out, the Constitution says that it stands dissolved, if not dissolved earlier, on the 10th of October 2026.”

He added: “Only one man knows that, and there has been no indication from the man who has the authority and power to do so that there is any contemplation or otherwise of an election before the mandate runs out.”

Free National Movement (FNM) leader Michael Pintard has recently claimed, without providing evidence, that the PLP plans to have an early election.

“He is clever at turning a phrase. He is, after all, an actor, a comedian, a writer,” Mr Mitchell said. “There are 15, 16, 17 months left to go on the term. There is work which has to be completed. We are going about doing that work.”

Mr Pintard has called for fixed election dates to ensure transparency and fairness. Mr Mitchell dismissed the proposal, saying it would necessitate constitutional changes.

“At this point, no one is contemplating going back to the country with a referendum on any issues of that nature,” Mr Mitchell said. “Fixed dates of election, while it sounds nice, and all the rest of it, within the present system it is not possible.”